Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
NP a little off topic to just say I’m sorry and others can’t possibly know how bad it can be until they live it. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Post in the special needs forum if you need more support from us who have been there and understand. Teen behaviors can be hell. My entire family hit rock bottom (I hope) last year when my kid got involved with a different group with some very bad consequences. We made drastic changes but it didn’t happen overnight and now are dealing with social isolation and homeschool but no drugs or crimes or other terrible things that were happening. You do the best you can to get through these years.
Thank you. I really appreciate this reply
-OP
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
NP a little off topic to just say I’m sorry and others can’t possibly know how bad it can be until they live it. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Post in the special needs forum if you need more support from us who have been there and understand. Teen behaviors can be hell. My entire family hit rock bottom (I hope) last year when my kid got involved with a different group with some very bad consequences. We made drastic changes but it didn’t happen overnight and now are dealing with social isolation and homeschool but no drugs or crimes or other terrible things that were happening. You do the best you can to get through these years.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
You don’t even have to take the phone. Just disconnect the service. Turn it off. Period.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
NP a little off topic to just say I’m sorry and others can’t possibly know how bad it can be until they live it. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Post in the special needs forum if you need more support from us who have been there and understand. Teen behaviors can be hell. My entire family hit rock bottom (I hope) last year when my kid got involved with a different group with some very bad consequences. We made drastic changes but it didn’t happen overnight and now are dealing with social isolation and homeschool but no drugs or crimes or other terrible things that were happening. You do the best you can to get through these years.
Thank you. I really appreciate this reply
-OP
Anonymous wrote:How old is the teen, and what are you worried they are doing when they have location turned off?
We just had this discussed in our house. 17 year old wants privacy and not to be tracked. He does occasionally go to “hang outs” he sometimes has beer. He swears he never has and never will drink and drive. We talked about what good the tracking does us - it doesn’t let us keep our kid safe and alive, which is what we’d like to do. It does allow us to catch him in a lie if he wants to lie to us and we want to snoop.
We agreed to skip it. Everyone in the family has Life360, but we all agreed to use it for checking when people will be home, that they are still alive on a road trip without texting for updates, etc. Our life has been more peaceful and I worry a lot less than I did when I checked the tracking more.
This is clearly age and kid dependent. I have a kid who is almost and adult, and he is generally a kind and thoughtful person who doesn’t get into trouble very often. A younger kid is a different story.
We do have a hard and fast rule that if kid breaks rules in the car (excessive speed, drinking and driving) we take the car keys. You could do the same with the phone - disable Life360 and the phone goes away. There is also a premium version of Life360 that can’t be disabled. But kids can just leave their phones someplace allowed while they go make mischief. Tracking may not actually keep them safe. It does make you crazy checking, though. I know that from experience!
Anonymous wrote:How about telling your kid that if they do that again, they lose their phone for a week.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
NP a little off topic to just say I’m sorry and others can’t possibly know how bad it can be until they live it. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Post in the special needs forum if you need more support from us who have been there and understand. Teen behaviors can be hell. My entire family hit rock bottom (I hope) last year when my kid got involved with a different group with some very bad consequences. We made drastic changes but it didn’t happen overnight and now are dealing with social isolation and homeschool but no drugs or crimes or other terrible things that were happening. You do the best you can to get through these years.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
Anonymous wrote:Sleepovers are the biggest no no once they hit high school. It is always a sneak out or doing something they shouldn’t be doing. And many parents like one on this thread are far too lax
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I just trust my kids. If they haven’t given me a reason to think they are misbehaving, I trust them. I don’t track them.
I am the OP. I have lost trust in my 15yr old when I sensed something was off and did a deep dive on their phone. That is the problem. So when they got their phone back after 2 weeks, of course I am going to track them, which we always had as a family and I rarely looked at. But it sounds like kids are hacking life 360 to sneak out, leave school for lunch, staying after school, etc… so I just wanted to be one up on it. They also get around ring cameras.
They can already not do sleepovers and to the person that said check their bed at 3am every night, thank you. Caught again last night after coming home at 11:00pm, even when life 360 said they were home. So punished and loss of phone again.
And for those judging. I am trying. We live in a normal 4 person two parent home and my 17yr old is nothing like this. We are pretty flexible and never helicopterish. This is a new friend group and it’s been hell since Sept.
Op this is more than a phone problem.
1. Get kid in therapy.
2. Change kids school or homeschool. 3. No more of that friends group. Escort kid to all activities. Enroll kid in sport/hobby/skill at least three nights a week. Quit your job if you have to.
This is the critical drug/alcohol period. Your kid needs you. Yes they will hate you. In ten years they will thank you.
OP here
They are in therapy and on a new medication as of a month ago
Trying to get them away from the friend group but they are also in their school
I can’t switch schools. It wouldn’t matter.
They are in a club sport that starts Jan until July so hopeful that will help. Will be with team a lot.
I hate taking away phone but it’s what needed to happen.
I work from home PT. I am the driver almost all the time. The biggest thing was taking away sleepovers.
Thanks for the suggestions - honestly.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your kid can’t be trusted, I get it. But if they’re generally trustworthy, why do this? With my three, including two teens and one young adult, I told them I wouldn’t track as long as they were abiding by our rules. We have Life360 for car trips and the like, but we otherwise never check. They know that if we have reason to stop trusting, they will get less freedom and independence. But I want to prepare them for a world in which no one is following their every movement to ensure they’re only making perfect decisions. Somehow all of us on here survived the teen years, and I can’t imagine there are many of us who didn’t make a few questionable decisions along the way. We learned from those as well. I do understand tightening the leash if your child is a habitual liar or meeting strangers from the internet at the mall or doing drugs, but otherwise, you’re doing no one any favors, including yourself. My anxiety would be through the roof if I felt responsible for tracking my kids all the time.
We use life360 to track each other for pickups and to know when to have meals ready.
My kids track us to see where we are when picking them up. My younger DC walks alone from one activity to another. I would have anxiety if I could not track them.
The older DC is 18 and at college. We asked them if they wanted to remove life360. They said, no, that they didn't care. This DC also goes to see their s/o at a big city every so often, so I like that we know when they get there safely and back.
Please read what you wrote. “I would have anxiety if I could not track them.”
DP. So? My mom always needed to know where I was going as a teen, who with, who would be there, and when I would be back. It would give her “anxiety” if I didn’t do this. It was also her right to know. Teens aren’t adults and shouldn’t have the same expectations of privacy. Would I read my teen’s diary? Absolutely not, but I will install Life360.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If your kid can’t be trusted, I get it. But if they’re generally trustworthy, why do this? With my three, including two teens and one young adult, I told them I wouldn’t track as long as they were abiding by our rules. We have Life360 for car trips and the like, but we otherwise never check. They know that if we have reason to stop trusting, they will get less freedom and independence. But I want to prepare them for a world in which no one is following their every movement to ensure they’re only making perfect decisions. Somehow all of us on here survived the teen years, and I can’t imagine there are many of us who didn’t make a few questionable decisions along the way. We learned from those as well. I do understand tightening the leash if your child is a habitual liar or meeting strangers from the internet at the mall or doing drugs, but otherwise, you’re doing no one any favors, including yourself. My anxiety would be through the roof if I felt responsible for tracking my kids all the time.
We use life360 to track each other for pickups and to know when to have meals ready.
My kids track us to see where we are when picking them up. My younger DC walks alone from one activity to another. I would have anxiety if I could not track them.
The older DC is 18 and at college. We asked them if they wanted to remove life360. They said, no, that they didn't care. This DC also goes to see their s/o at a big city every so often, so I like that we know when they get there safely and back.
Please read what you wrote. “I would have anxiety if I could not track them.”